ABOUT US

The Evolution of a Commercial Printer

In the year 1975, Bud Knott & Sons Instant Duplicating was a small insty-printer serving local Elgin businesses. When the owners decided to retire, they sold the business to Kern, Steve and Diane Hagg. The Haggs all had recently graduated from college, and printing was in their blood. The Haggs great-grandfather, Charles Kern, had been a partner with Glennon & Kern Printing Company, a large letterpress operation located on Printers Row in Chicago during the early 1900s. The Haggs grandfather, Arthur H. Hagg, was part owner of S & M Bindery on Chicagos north side during the middle of the last century. And the Haggs father, Kern Sr., worked his entire life in the newspaper advertising business. In 1977, with the Haggs as new owners, Bud Knott & Sons acquired a small letterpress shop in an old automotive service station on the east side of Elgin. Bud Knott & Sons Instant Duplicating acquired a Heidelberg Windmill letterpress, a new name, Rush Printing, and a long customer list of Chicago-area print distributors that had been using Rush Printing to crash imprint business forms. The $5,000 purchase price would, over time, result in the cultivation of more than $100 million dollars in sales.

A few years later, the name was changed again to Rush Graphics. It was a name that better described the fast turnaround and business forms design aspects of the business. The companys sales grew during the `80s and `90s at a rate of more than 25 percent per year due to the acquisition of larger and faster machines. The continued loyalty of so many of its clients also was key.

In 1998, the name was changed for the last time to Hagg Press, Inc. This change was made to de-emphasize the rushing of jobs and the graphics or design aspects of its previous name. Business forms were in decline and the owners felt it was best to emphasize the long family tradition as well as the heavy commercial printing and publication equipment being utilized. Hagg Press was an easy choice.

Since its earliest days more than 30 years ago, Hagg Press has grown dramatically because of loyal clients, great employees, and the acquisition of bigger and more versatile equipment. There are about 44,000 printers in America, and Hagg Press is number 373 in gross annual revenues. Thats the top 1%! Electronic printing, computer-to-plate technology, e-commerce and many other exciting changes already have happened at Hagg Press so the next 30 years should be as exciting to experience as the past.